Technical Field
Embodiments generally relate to network metric collection.
Background
A communication network may, for example, provide a network connection that allows data to be transferred between two geographically remote locations. A network may include network elements connected by links. The network elements may be any type of managed device on the network, including routers, access servers, switches, bridges, hubs, IP telephones, IP video cameras, computer hosts, and printers. Network elements can be physical or logical and can communicate with one another via interconnected links.
Networks may also provide clients with statistics, reports, and other information related to their elements and their performance. For example, clients may wish to see how much their traffic is delayed by the network, whether the service is meeting service level agreements, whether the network is causing a bottleneck, etc.
To collect metrics, a standard protocol, such as Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), may be used. SNMP is part of the Internet Protocol Suite as defined by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). It includes of a set of standards for network management, including an application layer protocol, a database schema, and a set of data objects.
The database schema SNMP uses is defined by a management information base (MIB). The MIB describes the structure of the management data of a device subsystem. It uses a tree-like hierarchical namespace, dividing objects into categories, and, in some cases, the categories into further categories. The objects can be specified by object identifiers (OID). An object can include one or more object instances (identified by their OIDs). An object may be scalar, including a single object instance, or tabular, including multiple related object instances that are grouped and listed in a sequence.
SNMP may support a query providing for discovery of the instances available for an object. The instances may be specified by suffixes to the object identifiers. Then, the instance and the object identifier together may be used to retrieve the value for the instance.